A Good Sleep, for a Better Day

We all want a good night’s sleep, but for people with cognitive disorders this can be a real challenge. This project aims to support (migrant) older people with cognitive challenges, to age-in-place, and also to consider the burden on the informal caregiver(s).

The changes in our healthcare and society (the Netherlands) entail that living at home is the starting point. This poses a great strain on the social network of (migrant) older people. Especially those with cognitive problems, such as dementia, the pressure on informal care can be just too much to handle. Taking care of people with cognitive problems may cause disruption of the night rhythm for both patient and informal caregiver and prohibits a good night’s sleep.

This may lead, for example, to awakening in the middle of the night or very early, on which one may start wandering. Causing unsafe situations and restless nights for the caregiver(s). Restlessness is an important factor that leads to an increased care burden and is often a turning point at which informal caregiver(s) can no longer cope with.

In this project, through a participative design, the consortium works together with the target group in various work packages in finding, optimising, integrating, implementing, and testing (existing) technological solutions and related services. The older people, migrants, and people with a low socio-economic status have a greater risk of having health literacy, which is why special attention is given to this group in this project. Insufficient health literacy is a major cause of health inequalities. This project contributes to reducing health inequalities.

Acquired experiences, knowledge, and results will be disseminated through various knowledge carriers. To this end, work is also executed with materials that are suitable for people with low literacy or who do not speak the Dutch language sufficiently.